The former chief technology officer of Liberty Reserve SA, described by the U.S. as a black-market bank that masked more than $6 billion in criminal proceeds, became the third person to plead guilty to helping run an illegal money remitting business.

Mark Marmilev, 35, of Brooklyn, New York, who helped design and maintain the operations technological infrastructure, faces a maximum five-year prison term when hes sentenced by U.S. District JudgeDenise Cote in Manhattan on Jan. 20.

Marmilev told Cote that he provided technical support to the site, helping to protect it from hackers and identity thieves, and acknowledged that he suspected that most of the funds coming into Liberty Reserve were the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme.

I believed a substantial amount of the funds from the U.S. moving through Liberty Reserve came from high-yield investment programs that I believe had a high probability of being fraudulent but I consciously avoided obtaining confirmation, Marmilev said.

Liberty Reserve, incorporated in Costa Rica, was one of the worlds most widely used digital currency services, according to the U.S. The company was created and structured as a criminal business venture, one designed to help criminals conduct illegal transactions, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. Federal prosecutors in New York shut down the company last year.

Marmilev, one of seven people charged last year by Bhararas office, had also been accused of one count of conspiring to launder money, which carries a maximum 20-year prison term and with operating an unlicensed money remitting business, which carries a maximum five-year term.

Azzeddine El Amine, a principal deputy to the companys founders, pleaded guilty in August to a conspiracy count and Cote said he is cooperating with the U.S.

Marmilevs lawyer, Seth Ginsberg, said after court that his client is an Israeli citizen and faces deportation after he completes his term. Ginsberg withdrew a request to have Marmilev released on bond.

I think that the plea is in the best interests of Mr. Marmilev, Ginsberg said.

Another defendant, Arthur Budovsky, is in Spain where his extradition is pending, prosecutors have said. Marmilev had been scheduled to go to trial in April with Maxim Chuckharev, who was Liberty Reserves designer, according to the government.

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Liberty Reserve Employee Pleads Guilty in Black-Market Bank Case